Chinese Start-Ups

Leon Chen - Leon Chen joined Fidelity Growth Partners Asia in 2008 with over 15 years of experience as an accomplished scientist, management consultant and venture capitalist.

Prior to joining FGPA, Leon was a Managing Partner at BioVeda China and had led a number of investments in the life science sector in China including Cathay Industrial Biotechnology and CITIC Pharmaceuticals.

From 1997 to 2005, Leon was a management consultant and a business adviser to Pharmaceutical and Biotech companies. He worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, Ernst & Young LLP, and as a co-founder and Managing Partner with Life Science Strategic Consulting in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From 1993 to 1997, Leon worked as a research scientist at Schering-Plough in New Jersey. He was a member of the discovery team of "VYTORIN"/"ZETIA" – now a multibillion dollar drug.

He received a BS degree from Peking University, a Ph.D. degree with top honor in Organic Chemistry from Catholic University of Louvain, and was a Post-Doc Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Leon holds 6 issued US Patents and co-authored the 14th and 15th Ernst & Young Biotechnology Report.

James Li - Dr. James Li is a partner of KPCB China. He joins in Oct 2009 to focus on fund’s life science practice. His main investment interests are in the space of bio-pharmaceuticals, vaccines, diagnostics and personalized medicine enabling tools, research services, medical devices and other life science opportunities in China.

James is also a member of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Pandemic Fund in which his interests are in the areas of the management of emerging infectious disease, specifically in bird flu and swine flu’s rapid diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

Prior to joining KPCB, James spent over 15 years with Merck Co. & Inc. where he held leadership positions with increasing responsibilities in clinical research, regulatory affairs, new product development and franchise management, both in the US and Asia Pacific/China. During his tenure, he was instrumental in obtaining regulatory approvals of Merck vaccines across Asia Pacific Region when the Vaccine Division started operations in the region, successfully built the foundations of Merck’s medical operations in China and drove the success of Merck’s largest product franchise in Asia.

James received his Medical Degree from Shanghai Medical University, completing an internship in Internal Medicine and a rotation in Oncology, followed by a Master of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Montana.

James is currently involved with the following companies: BioCryst, GenScript, Kang Hui, Nexus Diagnostics, and Novavax.

Howard Liang - Dr. Liang was recognized by the Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" special report for stock picking in both biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in 2010, and in biotechnology in 2008.  In addition, he was named #2 Stock Picker for Biotechnology in the 2011 FT/StarMine Analyst Awards.

Dr. Liang was recognized by the Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" special report for stock picking in both biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in 2010, and in biotechnology in 2008.  Dr. Liang came to Leerink Swann from A.G. Edwards, where he was a senior biotechnology analyst.  His prior Wall Street experience includes JMP Securities as a senior biotechnology analyst and Prudential Securities, where he was an associate to an Institutional Investor-ranked major pharma analyst. 

Before that, Dr. Liang spent eight years at Abbott Laboratories, where he was a senior scientist and a member of one of the industry's leading structure-based drug discovery teams.  During his career as a scientist, Dr. Liang authored papers in prestigious journals including Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

Dr. Liang obtained his MBA and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular biology, both from the University of Chicago.  His undergraduate degree is a B.S. in Chemistry from Beijing University.

Dajun Yang - Dr. Dajun Yang is the Managing Director for biotechnology and healthcare in the Morningside Ventures Group. Dr. Yang co-founded Ascenta Therapeutics in 2003 and is senior VP of research. In 2005, he established Ascenta Shanghai, the company's wholly-owned R&D Facility in the Pudong High-Tech Park in Shanghai, China. Prior to Ascenta, Dr. Yang was an associate professor of internal medicine and member of Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Michigan; an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and associate professor in the Department of Oncology and a senior investigator of the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center . Dr. Yang has more than 20 years of experience in cancer research and drug development. He is author and co-author of more than 60 papers, book chapters, patents and abstracts. Dr. Yang is the inventor of over ten national and international patents (issued/pending). He built the biology and pharmacology team for S*BIO Ltd Pte, a Singapore-Chiron Joint venture biopharmaceutical company where he served as the first VP of Biology.  Dr. Yang also holds an appointment currently as an Adjunct Professor in Department of Medicine at the University of Michigan, and a visiting professor at the Cancer Center of the Sun Yat-sen University in China.  Dr. Yang obtained his M.D. in 1983 from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), and his Master of Medicine degree in Oncology in 1986 from the SUMS Cancer Center. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Michigan State University. Dr. Yang served as president of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (CBA) from 2003-2004.